‘The Ralahine way’: the rural commune in the writings of Irish radical W.P. Ryan

An obscure figure in Irish literary history, W.P. Ryan was nevertheless a prolific author during the cultural revival in early twentieth-century Ireland, publishing a number of politically radical works of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. He was also an influential journalist and editor of many publications during this seismic period in Irish cultural and political life, advocating for a specifically Gaelic version of socialism in a new Ireland. Ryan’s political outlook was greatly influenced by James Connolly’s concept of ‘Celtic Communism’, and many of his creative works depict experiments in rural communes that hark back to supposedly Gaelic approaches to labour and land division. In this essay, I argue that Ryan’s fictional communes bear significant resemblance to a real-life experiment in communal life from the 1830s at Ralahine, County Clare. This commune, based on an Owenite model, had a major impact within Irish socialist circles and was offered by Connolly as a model for a future independent Ireland. This article will examine Ryan’s rural radicalism in the context of this increased interest in Ralahine, situating his Revivalist writings within theories of the commune.